It's ironic that defensive coordinator Jim Heacock is one of the odd men out in Urban Meyer's reshuffle of the Ohio State coaching staff. Heacock, 63, was the first to hire Meyer as a full-time college assistant coach.

Bob Hunter, The Columbus Dispatch

It's ironic that defensive coordinator Jim Heacock is one of the odd men out in Urban Meyer's reshuffle of the Ohio State coaching staff. Heacock, 63, was the first to hire Meyer as a full-time college assistant coach.

With the announcement this week that Mike Vrabel will be retained, it's anticipated that he will move from tutoring the linebackers to coaching the defensive line, Heacock's domain since he was first hired at OSU in 1996. Since then, he has served three head coaches - John Cooper, Jim Tressel and Luke Fickell.

As head coach at Illinois State in 1988, Heacock brought in Meyer as a linebackers coach after Meyer had served two years as a graduate assistant at Ohio State under Earle Bruce, fired late in the 1987 season.

Meyer moved to quarterbacks/receivers coach at Illinois State in 1989 before hooking back up with Bruce at Colorado State in 1990.

Heacock was the 2007 Frank Broyles Award winner, which goes to the nation's top assistant coach.

If the Blue Jackets continue at their present pace, they might earn the No. 1 overall pick for the first time - they had to trade up to take Rick Nash with the first pick in 2002 - and if they get it in a weighted lottery, they will a find a Russian winger waiting there for them.

Nail Yakupov is the consensus best prospect in the draft, which wouldn't raise an eyebrow if the Jackets' hadn't taken two Russian players with high first-round picks in the past and been disappointed.

They took Nikolai Zherdev with the fourth overall pick in 2003; he was an enigma in four seasons with the team before his trade to the New York Rangers in 2008.

Then, in 2008, they took Nikita Filatov, who flopped in parts of three seasons with the team, went back to Russia to play in 2009-10 and finally was traded to Ottawa last summer. He recently returned to Russia to play again.

On the positive side, Yakupov is in his second season for Sarnia in the Ontario Hockey League and has 19 goals and 30 assists in 24 games. He was 49-52-101 in 65 games there last year and speaks excellent English, so he might be more of a North American player than the others.

The Hudson Street Hooligans Club, which operated as a pub and meeting place for the Crew fan group at 2236 Summit St. until it was shut down in August, is still looking for a new location for the group.

Leaders of the group say the club definitely plans to find a new home, although things are still in a state of flux.

City officials said the building that the group had been occupying wasn't safe - there were no firewalls and not enough exits, among other things - when they closed it in August. The group was permitted to meet there once a month for three months while it looked for another location, but now that extension also has ended.

The group first started meeting at a nearby Ruby Tuesday's, where one of its leaders was a bartender, and it's possible that will be a temporary solution again.

The date for renewing membership in the club is Feb. 1 and club leaders want to have a solution by then so members will know there is a reason to renew.

The Hooligans prefer a location within walking distance of Crew Stadium. In the past, members would meet at the club and march to the stadium for the games.

The Clippers appear to be having a better offseason than the parent Indians. The Tribe signed outfielders Felix Pie and Aaron Cunningham, infielder Jose Lopez and third baseman Andy LaRoche, all former minor-league stars/hot prospects whose major-league production has never matched their potential.

Any or all of them could end up playing in Columbus, where the outfield is short on prospects.

It is one reason the Tribe was interested in free agent Carlos Beltran before he reportedly signed with St. Louis and also talked to veteran Mike Cameron, who agreed to a deal with Washington.

Cameron, 39, was coming off a mediocre season, but was viewed as a possible backup for Grady Sizemore, who has been hampered with injury problems.

Before the signings, the outfield for the triple-A Clippers was Jared Head, Ezequiel Carrera, Chad Huffman, Travis Buck and Tim Fedroff.

All that losing is getting the Browns somewhere - higher on the NFL draft board. The 4-10 team would have the No. 5 pick if the draft were held this week, which would give it a good chance to bolster its offense.

Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck is expected to be the top pick in the draft, but at No. 5, Cleveland might be able to snare Alabama running back Trent Richardson or Oklahoma State wide receiver Justin Blackmon. Any would be welcome in Cleveland.

At this point, Richardson seems like the Browns' most likely choice, in part because running back Peyton Hillis seems likely to sign elsewhere and in part because backup Montario Hardesty has carried the ball in but one of the past seven games because of a calf injury.

The Browns might move past 4-10 Jacksonville if they keep losing, but probably will climb no higher. Indianapolis (1-13), Minnesota (2-12) and St. Louis (2-12) likely are out of reach.

Michigan State football players are getting a $200 bowl gift from the school - schools are allowed to spend up to $400 - and from the sound of it, the players couldn't be more thrilled. The school is giving them the Nike Pro Combat helmets they wore when they beat Michigan for the fourth consecutive season.

Fifth-year senior wide receiver B.J. Cunningham of Westerville told the Detroit Free Press that the players already had been given the gloves and jerseys from that game, but "Nothing (is) better than that helmet," he said.

"You're going to put it up in a case, let your kids look at it. It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing for MSU. It's exciting to be a part of that, especially the senior class, beating (Michigan) for the fourth time."

After the noise he created in Cincinnati, Chad Ochocinco has been quiet with New England - both on and off the field.

The former Bengals receiver who made creative touchdown celebrations his trademark, was a finalist on Dancing with the Stars and shared a reality TV show with Terrelle Owens last season hasn't talked to the Boston news media all season and didn't score his first touchdown until Sunday.

In 14 games, the six-time Pro Bowler, 33, has only 14 receptions for 261 yards and that lone touchdown, a 33-yarder in the first quarter of the Patriots' win at Denver.

He finally spoke to The Boston Globe this week and was subdued.

"I'll continue to just work, there's no substitute for that,'' Ochocinco said. "We all have expectations, including myself, including people on the outside, but it's coming along. I'm working, that's all I can do. When my number is called I do my best to make the plays, and that's about it.''

He denied that it has been a trying year.

"No, not at all,'' he said. "It's a team game, it's not an individual game. Everything is based off individual numbers and everybody wants to look at the stats, but it is what it is. We're 11-3 and I'm happy.''

Ohio Wesleyan soccer All-American Travis Wall of Upper Arlington was featured in Faces in the Crowd in Sports Illustrated's Dec. 26 issue for scoring a first-half goal in the Battling Bishops' 4–0 NCAA Division III semifinal victory over Montclair State and another in a 2–1 title-game victory over Calvin.

Wall, the tournament's most outstanding offensive player, also was named the NSCAA national player of the year.

He confirmed that he likely will return for his senior season, which would be his second year in Al Borges' offense.

Borges' system is closer to what NFL teams run than the spread offense that Robinson played in under former Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez the first two years.

Now that the Reds reportedly have a deal for Cubs reliever Sean Marshall, who might qualify as one of the "potential closers" that GM Walt Jocketty said he was looking at, they might turn their attention to acquiring a left fielder.

They have talked to the agent of free-agent outfielder Cody Ross, who hit .240 with 14 home runs and 52 RBI in 405 at-bats for the Giants last season, but there are numerous possibilities out there.

Ryan Ludwick and Rick Ankiel both played for Jocketty in St. Louis and are free agents. Pat Burrell, Carlos Guillen and Jason Michaels also are available.

Bo Pelini's name keeps popping up in connection with the Penn State football coaching vacancy, and the Nebraska coach keeps denying that there is anything to it. Both ThePatriot-News in Harrisburg and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette have reported that Pelini talked to PSU officials, but that he isn't in the mix for the job.

The reports obviously irked Pelini, who spoke briefly to reporters in Lincoln, Neb., about it this week after practice.

"The irresponsible reports that are going on out there aren't true," he said. "I have not interviewed for Penn State and I'm not saying anymore on that."

Why would he even consider leaving Nebraska given the recent troubles at Penn State?

Two reasons, at least according to some Nebraska media members. Pelini sometimes struggles with the criticism that he gets in a state that is obsessed with the Cornhuskers' football program, and Pelini and Penn State's acting athletic director, Dave Joyner, value strong academics more than most. Penn State's football team was ranked No. 1 in the latest academic BCS rankings.

Bob Hunter is a sports columnist for The Dispatch.

bhunter@dispatch.com

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